Military vehicles, for example, the HMMWV ("Humvee") military land vehicle, may encounter many, and at least three types, of explosives: (1) anti-tank mines, (2) anti-personnel mines and (3) claymores. In the case of these types of destructive devices, these devices may be detonated by the pressure of one or more of the tires or wheels of the vehicle rolling over them, or by remote detonation.
The anti-tank and anti-personnel mines generally rely on pure blast pressure for destructive incapacitative effect. The claymores, on the other hand, have a lower blast pressure than that characteristic of the anti-tank mines. The claymores rely primarily on hundreds of flying shrapnel fragments for incapacitation effect.
Thus, the underbody of military land vehicles, and in particular the lateralmost portions of the underbody adjacent and around or over the vehicle wheels, must be protected against both pure blast pressure and flying shrapnel fragments to ensure survival of the occupants of the vehicle.
One prior system for armoring the underbody of a road vehicle is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,326,445. In that patent, a plurality of armor protection plates of the underbody protect the underneath of the vehicle from upwardly directed projectiles.
Past efforts at equipping such military land vehicles to withstand these two types of loadings have not met with complete success.